The Department of Education (DepEd) has begun visiting participating schools across the Philippines as the country works to build on its improved performance in the 2025 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).
The nationwide school visits are intended to strengthen local education support networks, monitor learning initiatives, and identify practices that can help sustain progress beyond a single international assessment cycle.
The move comes after the release of the latest PISA 2025 results, which showed significant improvements in the Philippines' average performance in reading, mathematics, and science compared with 2022. The OECD reported that the Philippines recorded a 20-point increase in reading and a 16-point increase in mathematics between 2022 and 2025.
What the Latest PISA Results Mean for the Philippines
PISA, administered by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), assesses the knowledge and skills of 15-year-old students in areas including reading, mathematics, and science.
The 2025 assessment involved more than 760,000 students across 91 countries and economies, making it the largest PISA assessment to date.
For the Philippines, the latest results represent an improvement from the previous assessment cycle.
The country's average scores in 2025 were 367 points in reading, 371 points in mathematics, and 356 points in science. Although these results remained below the OECD averages, the Philippines posted gains across all three subjects compared with 2022.
Reading showed the most notable movement. The OECD's Education GPS identifies the Philippines' 20-point improvement between 2022 and 2025 as the strongest increase among participating countries and economies with comparable data for that indicator.
That improvement is particularly significant because reading is closely connected to students' ability to understand information, evaluate evidence, and learn across different subjects.
DepEd Takes the Results From Reports to Classrooms
Rather than treating PISA as a one-time event, DepEd is using the latest results as a source of information for school-level planning and learning recovery.
According to the department, officials, monitoring teams, and testing coordinators have begun visiting schools in different regions to conduct discussions and monitoring activities.
The visits bring together school heads, teachers, assessment coordinators, parents, local officials, and other education stakeholders.
The goal is to understand not only how students performed, but also what helped schools prepare learners for an increasingly digital and demanding learning environment.
This approach reflects a broader lesson from international education assessments: numbers can identify areas of progress and concern, but schools and communities ultimately have to translate those findings into everyday classroom practices.
What Schools in the Regions Are Reporting
In the SOCCSKSARGEN region, school dialogues highlighted strong community participation and students' increasing readiness for computer-based testing.
Parents also emphasized their role in building students' confidence.
Victor Emmanuel R. Baliao, a parent from Alabel National Science High School in Sarangani, said parental support can help students feel more confident when facing assessments.
The experience of teachers and assessment coordinators also points to the importance of familiarity with technology.
Leilann Gerlie T. Marzo, an International Large-Scale Assessment Coordinator from Matutum View Academy in South Cotabato, described how students became more comfortable with computers during preparation for PISA.
The experience suggests that digital confidence can improve when students receive opportunities to practice using technology in a structured learning environment.
Schools in CAR Recognize Teachers, Parents, and Community Partners
In the Cordillera Administrative Region, participating schools organized appreciation activities to recognize teachers, parents, and community partners who contributed to assessment preparation.
Schools including Baguio City National Science High School and Cordillera Regional Science High School were among those involved in activities celebrating the collective effort behind the country's PISA participation.
Such activities also highlight an important part of education improvement: student achievement is rarely the product of classroom instruction alone.
Parents, school leaders, local governments, teachers, and community organizations can all contribute to creating an environment in which students are prepared to learn and participate.
Eastern Visayas Focuses on Data-Driven Literacy Programs
In Eastern Visayas, regional monitoring teams and division leaders conducted school visits with particular attention to literacy initiatives.
The emphasis on data is significant because international assessments can provide schools with another source of evidence for identifying learning needs.
Instead of simply asking whether students performed well or poorly, educators can use assessment information to ask more practical questions: Which skills require additional support? Which learners need targeted intervention? Which teaching strategies appear to be working? And how can successful practices be expanded?
These questions can help turn international assessment data into concrete classroom action.
The Philippines Still Has Major Learning Challenges
The improved PISA results should be viewed alongside the challenges that remain.
The OECD reported that Philippine students continued to perform below the OECD average in reading, mathematics, and science. Only about 31% of Filipino students reached at least Level 2 proficiency in reading, compared with an OECD average of 69%. In mathematics, about 21% reached Level 2 or higher, compared with 65% across OECD countries. In science, the corresponding figure was about 32%, compared with 74% across the OECD.
This means the recent gains are important, but they do not eliminate the need for continued learning support.
The OECD's broader 2025 findings also show that many education systems are facing serious challenges. Across OECD countries, average performance in reading and mathematics declined substantially, while the organization identified growing concerns involving digital distractions, reading habits, and learning gaps.
For the Philippines, therefore, the latest PISA results can be understood as evidence of progress while also pointing to the scale of work that remains.
Why Sustaining the Gains Matters
Education Secretary Sonny Angara has emphasized that maintaining progress will require long-term commitment rather than reliance on a single program or assessment cycle.
DepEd plans to use lessons from the school visits to strengthen learning recovery efforts, including initiatives such as the Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning (ARAL) Program.
The department is also working with local government units, local school boards, families, and community partners to address remaining learning gaps.
This matters because international rankings and scores can change from one assessment cycle to another. What has a more lasting impact is whether improvements become part of regular teaching, student support, assessment, and school improvement systems.
A Closer Look at What the 2025 Results Say About Filipino Learners
The latest OECD data also provide encouraging signs beyond the headline scores.
For example, 82.4% of Filipino students said they like learning new things at school, while 81.5% said they like to know how things work. The Philippines also had a relatively high share of students who reported applying additional effort when work becomes challenging.
The country also performed comparatively strongly in computational problem solving relative to what might be expected based on students' science performance. The OECD reported that 74.6% of Filipino students performed above expectations on this measure.
These findings provide a broader picture of Filipino learners—one that includes not only test scores, but also attitudes toward learning, persistence, and digital problem-solving.
From PISA Recognition to Long-Term Education Improvement
The DepEd's nationwide visits represent the next phase following the release and recognition of the 2025 PISA results.
The Philippines' improved performance provides schools with evidence that progress is possible. At the same time, the continuing gaps in foundational skills demonstrate why that progress needs to be sustained and expanded.
With 8,702 Filipino students from 208 public and private schools representing the country in the 2025 PISA cycle, the results provide a valuable national snapshot of student learning.
The larger challenge now is turning that snapshot into action.
For families, teachers, school leaders, and policymakers, the most important question is not simply where the Philippines stands in an international assessment. It is what schools can learn from the results and how those lessons can improve learning opportunities for students every day.
As DepEd continues its visits across the regions, the focus is increasingly shifting from celebrating improvement to understanding how to sustain it.
That may ultimately be the most important legacy of the Philippines' 2025 PISA experience: using evidence, community support, and classroom-level action to create learning gains that last well beyond one assessment cycle.